Eternal by a Blaze
by NightCracker Artie
Summary: They say a stroke of paint is a splash of the heart's colors. In such case, It could be Nanoha herself which makes up the palette of Fate Harlaown's heart...


**Eternal by a Blaze  
**

/A MSLN Fanfiction/

by NightCracker Artie

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 **Warning** || **Disclaimer** same-old, same-old.

You can say that this is a Fate Version of _A Lyrical Torch Beas_ _t_ (in terms of narrative mood). It's not as explicit as that, but M anyways. In other words, No _Sex_ scenes if you're here for NanoFate porn. Go back.

Oh, _this is not a sequel._ Could be AU but not as OOC as _Just Like That Can I Ask A Funny Question?_ _I_ t came to me after re-reading that, however. But it's a stand-alone above all. You're free to browse through the author page for the said stories. I'll be pleased if you left me your thoughts and feelings in a review!

A heads up! The excerpt has got nothing to do with what follows it. Treat it as an extra. :*

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 **Eternal by a Blaze  
**

by NCA

…

An Excerpt From The Past

[A Story of Love;

of Sacrifice;

of Fate and Nanoha]

 _"Nanoha…"_

 _I was a fool._

 _"What is it?"_

 _The closer I got to you, the more you gave yourself away —_

 _"Are you free tonight?"_

 _"Do we have plans?"_

— _The more I blindingly took it all._

 _"No. Not really."_

 _Even the pieces of you that I couldn't seem to contain._

 _Take your eyes for instance._

 _"Then shall we make plans for tonight…"_

 _Your voice._

"… _until the morning?"_

 _Your everything that feels like a trap._

 _"…"_

 _I'm always a willing prey to your love._

" _...y-yeah."_

 _I was a fool._

 _And til now I am._

* * *

 _ **Eternal by a Blaze  
**_

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 **There I sat by the edge of the bed,** witnessing her glory with fast heartbeats, as if a pyromaniac watching her chef-d'oeuvre arson. I could turn myself in and happily face death penalty, should it be a capital crime to be near her sleeping nakedness like this, with the intent to thoroughly claim her with my very hands. Right now is the only time I could find the courage to stare to my fill. For if she were to stare back, I'd melt too soon before I could relish in her blazing beauty. Sooner than I could have her image burnt in mind.

Nothing blanketed her save for the gold grains of the warm afternoon sunshine spreading through the window panes and falling onto her skin. The light screened her face with an angelic glow, if she weren't already heavenly wearing a soft and content expression. The urge to brush that bang back from her face visited me. But I politely turned this guest away. I dare not mar the genuine picture of her. No. Not yet, at least. Suddenly, I began to ache for the warmth of those slightly parted lips. But my watery mouth relented in favor of my hunger to put this feeling into something to last forever. I swallowed down the fire back into my stomach, and my senses returned on my idle hands. I gripped the paintbrush and palette tightly, as the memories of the feel of her skin sank to the back of my mind. The smell of latex had long since replaced the aroma of our love. But it eternally lives in the roof of my mouth, taunting me to surrender to the growing hunger of my soul, breath by breath. The stronger smell reminds me at least, that this ephemeral opportunity will never fall twice again. It's not history that forever repeats, not a chance that comes and goes to those patiently awaiting. There is plenty of golden moments, but this is a peek to the heavens from the surface of reality that comes once in a lifetime. And here I chose to preserve this unworldly beauty into paper, materialize it with what humanly skills I possess. It's an attempt out of heresy. But I consume that sin anyway.

As I smudged all of her colors onto the canvass, I etched her form in my mind, carved it in a very treasured place within my heart, where a collection of many others - those that did not touch a blotch of the paint - remained only for me. This, too, I hoped to be mine alone. However, for the dream of eden we pray to realize, I offer this to the world.

Grant me the vision of the future, please.

Her lips, her neck, her slightly angled jaw. The various contortions of her expressions, rich as a hidden treasure cove.

Her heaving chest, her toned muscles, a contradiction, yet still the perfect harmony mirroring her very feminine, and yet very stubborn features inside and out.

From her creamy skin to the pool of her long coppery hair, where we recorded our time together in forms of uncontrolled kisses and wild tugs here and there.

And of all other places, that special blossom between her strong legs…

Again, a twig of patience snapped free inside me, igniting my skin into flames. I took a pause and studied the canvass where the imperfect copy of her slept. It talks to that beast in me, demanding to be fed.

"Just a little more…" I whispered in a mantra, painting furiously with a fervent blush. "Don't wake up yet, love…"

I was reminded what Hayate, a dear friend to ours, exclaimed when we were planting boobie traps in the Bannings' Mansion – and utterly failing due to my blunder – one Earth Halloween, "Fate-chan, you're a faery of jinx so don't ever say anything during crucial times!"

And like that, a soft, prolonged moan fill the room, and my ears burned, red in fury. My mind could have exploded I'm never good at handling how erotic her voice accidentally becomes from time to time. I saw her move. I panicked and stood up, afraid that I really might go to jail when my work is to be seen by my secret subject. She stretched there on the sheets, making a louder sleepy moan as she extended her hand and a leg towards a body that should have been beside her.

"Fate-chan…"

She spread herself like a butterfly, or a flower at the earliest glimpse of dawn. And I, an innocent starter to the world of day, stared with all my might. I forgot about the brush, the paint trickling on my bare legs, the unfinished painting of her on the canvass. Wasn't this supposed to be a peek to heaven, meant to be key to a materialization of eden?

Trapped by her pure yet not-so-innocent amorous curves and all her most hidden places, I stood there dumbly, unaware of her lifting her head up in search for me. Then blue eyes stared right back, catching me prey with those sleepy orbs that reflected a vast expanse of possibilities. Not the peek to heavens can match the everyday beauty of her soul.

It wasn't the bright time to relish that though.

"There you are… What are you…?" She trailed off. Her unfinished question was answered right away when she realized what were on my hands and on the easel beside me. Copper brows rose as slowly as she sat up on the bed. "Did you ever tell me you did nude?"

I woke up from the reverie with a flinch backwards, knocking down the paintbrush rack on the floor, and making a slight clatter by my feet. I turned my head with a hiss. "Uh-I'l… that… I'll fix that." The words stumbled out of my lips as I bent down and mended to it instantly. With the brush and the palette on each hand however, I found myself incapable of the task. Standing back up, I stepped close to the bedside stand and put them down. When I returned, however, I was instead greeted by a smile. Now this, I thought to myself, is history repeating itself. How many times have I been a child caught red-handed by these sweet blue eyes? Sweet blue eyes, or so I say, until they began to trail down the length of my body. I easily tensed up, remembering that I'm just as naked as her. The sunlight on my skin was warm, but her eyes all over me were searing. Singeing.

Immediately turning away, I finished the unexpectedly heavy task, especially when I know how I'm being burnt from behind. The task was done and still I cannot bring myself to turn around. I figured I should put the painting away at least, so I trudged awkwardly so I don't have to turn to get to the easel. But before my hands could even touch the canvass, a hand smaller than mine beat me to it.

"Hm. So this is what you do when I'm not looking…" She said, inspecting the product of my wild urges with an impish smile.

"Sorry…" I whispered and tried to take the painting out of her grasp. To my misfortune, she stepped back more quickly, hindering me from accomplishing it. "Nanoha…" I drawled with annoyance rather than apology.

"Were you planning to hang me on your office?" She asked with that slight smirk. My heart was pounding, embarrassed by an extent I've never been before. But I couldn't make an excuse. Not when she was set on exacting answers one way or another.

Despite myself, I moued. "No…"

She sized me up, awaiting for the right explanations she deserved.

Averting my gaze from hers, I said, "an… an auction."

"Hm?"

"Remember that Rainbow Pride museum in #64?"

She laughed with a blush. "No way! You're not going to!" But that faded when I simply failed to react according to her expectations. Easily, her face turned grim. "Fate-chan."

I shut my eyes tightly and mentally crawled beneath the bed. My sight, even at the back of my eyelids flared with the impending black miasma of death!

"I'm sorry! I really really wanted to get a commission. I thought it would be nice if you and I get the privilege to be able to do that, you know? Among all other couples; or any other team."

I was in the verge of crying, seriously. An angry Nanoha did not earn the codename White Devil for nothing.

"What exactly are you talking about?"

I slowly opened my eyes, but failed to meet hers just yet. With a deep intake of air, I explained without pause under my breath, "you see, the auction is organized by Mytilene in 64. You know how hard it is to get permission from the Bureau to sign a contract with bio-sampling experiments, right? Especially with Class A+ officers. When I heard that the auction was a means to select artists to paint a new banner of their cause, I figured that it'd be the easiest reason to hitch a contract from the Bureau. I'm really sorry, Nanoha."

There was a pause. I hadn't felt as if the smallest window of silence could be as intense as a black hole until now.

"…wait, Mytilene as in the Laboratory?"

I nodded.

"The ones currently researching on the legal approach to same-sex pregnancy?"

Another nod.

"Fate-chan, you want us to have a child?!"

A very furious nod. The way her tone blared in my ears was nowhere near the way it did a while ago. This time, I knew I'd be dead without penalty. But as I let my eyelids consume me into those grim thoughts, Nanoha's lips consumed the pessimism so soon. I opened my eyes and her partly closed eyes welcomed me. The happiness in them guided me to the sensation of her body pressed against me. But more than that, I reveled in the feeling of her lips firmly capturing mine. It was not the type of kiss that carried passion as we so often share, nor a kiss that intended to tease a moment and linger for endless hours. It was not a kiss meant to show that we're in love. It was not a kiss meant to prove anything at all. We already know everything that every sort of kiss can tell.

It was a kiss and just a kiss. One that is true.

A kiss caused by love. (Not a kiss to prove it). A kiss because we know we're together. A kiss because we already know we'll remain in love. A kiss because I simply made her happy. And out of gratefulness that I did so, I kissed her back. The moment made time pass so slow, and so quickly, all the same.

We pulled back, and she cupped my cheek with her free hand. "You should have said something." She whispered.

I searched her eyes with apology. "I wasn't sure how to say it." I honestly told her, brushing her hair to the back of her ears. "You're enjoying your job right now, we both are. But I still wanted the opportunity for when the time comes. Just that… I'm afraid to confront you about what I want."

She smiled at me. "Aren't you always." And kissed me again.

I pressed my lips when she pulled away. "Besides, I wondered what to do if I told you, and you became happy about it—" I paused, making note that the possibility did come "—and I grew afraid for getting your hopes up for something that's still very uncertain. Even if I do get a slot and earn a contract, it's an experiment…"

She stopped my words with a finger, and kissed me again. "You were worrying over nothing."

"…yeah. I just found out." I tittered. "But, again, it's an experiment.." She rested her head on my shoulder and laughed.

"It's a hope you grab on. Let me hold on with you."

"Nanoha…" It's one of many other times when I come to wonder, what did I ever do to deserve her love?

"Fate-chan, you're making me feel like a new bride again."

I slowly blinked. "Do I?"

She retreated her head to look at me. "What did I ever do to deserve you, Fate-chan?"

 _Dear love, you keep my heart somersaulting whenever you show your strangest uniqueness. And you never fail to make me feel that we're both for each other because of that._

This time, it was I to kiss her gratefully. A hand latched around my neck. I backed away, just enough to paint these words on her lips, "everything, I guess."

She quietly chuckled with a characteristic grin.

"Yes, that too." I added, smiling with her.

"I see." Her nose nuzzled mine. Then, she returned to the canvass on her other hand. "Now that that's settled, why don't you promise me that this won't be hung outside of this house, please?"

"Eh– but that's—" I tried arguing, but Nanoha had a compromise ready.

"If it's because it's hard to get permission from the Bureau, we have yet to try." She said sweetly. "It's gonna be hard, true, but hey, I wouldn't like the easy way for something like this Fate-chan."

I bit my lip and suddenly felt ashamed for my thoughtless actions. "You're right… now I feel dumb."

"That's silly." She blatantly answered. "You just loose objectivity too easily when it comes to what you want."

"…ugh…"

"But I'm your _wife_. You talk to me, understood?"

"Mnh."

Putting the canvass back to the stand that's only an arm's length away, she told me, "I do appreciate your work so you can keep it when you finish it."

I began to grin like a kid who earned a huge lollipop.

"For yourself." She added. I hesitantly acquiesced. "I also appreciate you trying everything you can on your own. But I'd prefer it if you stop leaving me out of the loop."

I could only close my eyes in grave remorse. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"You should be." She nodded with reprimand. I hung my head and rested my forehead on her shoulder.

"Well, I am repenting. Forgive me?"

"Sometimes, you're just so unfair." Her arms looped around my shoulders as she hummed. Her breath tickled my neck. "By the time I realized what it's for... Already did."

It's a feeling that never gets old.

"Thank you." I whispered.

She kissed my jaw, and whispered back, "I love you, worrywart sir."

I pulled back to cup her face, and leap once more into the high skies of her soul, where I allow myself to fall.

"I love you, madame stubborn." I said with a smile. She pressed her cheeks into the palms of my hands, smiling like how I smile at her like a foolish woman in love.

And I kissed her. The kind of kiss that turned to passion and promises until we fell on the sheets of the bed. Into that eden we both dream of, we fall.

...

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 _ **~Ende**_

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I planned on making this a series of one shots, but decided against it as soon as I uploaded this. Blame the bipolar in me. Maybe if I get enough reviews, I might find some inspiration to do so.

 _Maybe. If. Might._

It's so nice to be carefree...

Anyway, tell me about what you read, what you hated, what you loved. Leave a review. You're just as free to drop some thoughts about my other stories. But it'd be nicer if you review this first.

 _Til next time! Shassu!  
_


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